My family is back into the swing of things now that school has started. Sometimes it is hard to put together meals in a hurry in the evenings. However, now our ten month old boys are now able to eat table foods, and so I am able to cook one meal most evenings and that is a huge time saver. This recipe I am sharing today is something that you can marinade while you are at work or running your daily errands. When you return home in the evening it only needs to bake in the oven. You are then set for dinner with all the main preparations done ahead of time.

I was so glad to to try out the Smithfield All Natural brand for this recipe. With three little people in our home I try to pay attention to the information on the packaging even more closely nowadays. The All Natural pork has no added steroids or hormones, and this is something I want to see listed on foods I feed my children. I went to Safeway to purchase the ingredients for this recipe I'm sharing today using a Smithfield All Natural pork loin.Before you head out to Safeway be sure to check out their website. I used a $1 off coupon for the Smithfield brand. I saved the coupon right to my Club Card from the Just4U Safeway Online Portal. This coupon is available while supplies last.

The Smithfield Website has some amazing recipes that you can make with your pork product. In the Ideas section of the site there are recipes for quick meals, and these would be perfect for people on the go and weeknight meals. That is why I decided to go with the pork loin recipe I am sharing.

I measured out all of the ingredients for the marinade the night before, and then I was able to put them all in the mixing bowl easily in the morning. I usually gather ingredients for recipes just before I go to bed. Coming home after work or daily activities is not when I want to go sifting through my pantry for necessary ingredients.

I whisked everything together, and then put it with the pork loin in a large zip top bag as soon as I woke up. I placed it in the fridge for the day while we were working.

When we came home in the evening I baked the tenderloin in the oven at 425 degrees until the meat thermometer registered at 160 degrees. It took around 40 minutes for my oven to bake my pork loin. Make sure you save the extra marinade from the bag. You will use it to create a sauce for the tenderloin while it is baking.Just before I poured the sauce over top of this I cut a few pieces of this for my ten month old boys. At this point the sauce would have been a bit spicy for their age. They gobbled this pork loin up so quickly, and I had to give them several helpings. It was a hit with everyone at the dinner table, and this is now something we will make more often. We were even able to fit in some play time together before dinner because of the prep I did prior to the evening rush.

Thai Pork Loin Recipe

Ingredients2 lb pork loinSalt and Pepper to taste1/3 c water2 tbsp vegetable oil1/4 c of chopped green onionsMarinade1/4 c orange marmalade1/4 c orange juice1/4 c soy sauce2 garlic cloves1/2 tsp red pepper flakes1 tbsp lime juice1 tbsp rice wine vinegar3 tbsp creamy peanut butterCombine marinade ingredients and whisk them together in a mixing bowl. Trim the pork loin to ensure that all the fat is removed. Season the pork loin with salt and pepper. Then add the marinade and pork loin in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator. I kept the pork loin in there for eight hours, but it is really up to you how long you would like to marinade it for in the end.Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Then heat the oil in a skillet (that is able to transfer into the oven) on medium heat. Take out the pork loin and keep the remaining marinade to use in a little bit. Sear all sides of the pork loin for approximately 8-10 minutes in total. Place the pork loin in the oven until it registers 160 degrees on a meat thermometer. Then let rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board. While pork loin is resting place water and marinade in a pot and bring to a boil. Then simmer the sauce for approximately five minutes. Cut the pork loin once ready, and pour the sauce over top of it. Then you can garnish with green onions if you desire. Adapted from Lets DishThis was a great weekday meal for our busy family. We were able to eat all together and there were not many items to clean up afterwards. The Smithfield pork was tender and delicious. Be sure to follow them on Facebook to see delicious recipes or ideas in your news feed.This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Weave Made Media and Smithfield, but all my opinions are my own. #weavemade #goallnatural

Thursday, September 25, 2014

I cannot believe I have been blogging for almost three years. I decided it was time to put all of my fall season projects in one post to share with you. Here are some easy fall ideas for you to try in your own home.

Monday, September 22, 2014

A simple Halloween decoration that can be changed for a season or holiday going forward.

I had an embroidery hoop and some light colored burlap in my craft stash. I was itching to do some sort of craft while I had some me time this weekend. I put the burlap in the hoop.

I took a sheet of scrapbook paper and traced on a pumpkin. I cut it out and add some letter stickers I also found in my pile of crafty goodness.

I added a velcro dot with adhesive backing to the front of the burlap and the back of the pumpkin. That way I can switch out a decoration on the hoop for each season. I paired it with an owl I purchased on clearance at Michaels. The owl was ivory with a rust like look on the feet. I spray painted it orange for Halloween, and I plan to actually use the owl for an upcoming baby shower as well. The owl is doing double duty this season.

Monday, September 15, 2014

I was recently given a few pieces of furniture from the home of a family member. I thought this sweet little table would be perfect next to Wynn's bed. She did not have any nightstands previously, and I thought this would work for her space if I changed up the color.

I spent hardly any time at all with this makeover. I grabbed a can of spray paint primer from a previous project and some Krylon Watermelon colored spray paint for the main color. I used a bit of turquoise colored Valspar spray paint for the hardware.

I cleaned off the table and let it dry. Then I sprayed it with the primer and let it dry. It then took approximately three coats and two cans of spray paint to fully cover this table.

It is now in the perfect little spot next to Wynn's bed. Wynn asked that I spray paint her walls in this color too. I think she will have to discuss that with Rob. ;)

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I had a picture of my boys that I wanted to frame. I have so many of them now thanks to my friend, Michelle. It was printed and mounted on a foam board like backing already. Sometimes that thickness will not fit in a traditional frame. I was looking around my house for a different way to display rather than just without a frame.

I took the wooden crate that I purchased from Elizabeth and Co's tag sale last year and put it up on its side. Then I placed the picture inside of the crate. It was the perfect fit. This could easily be mounted on a wall too. I may have to hunt for more crates at her tag sale today.This was just a plain old crate before I added the picture, and I think it makes the crate look cute! I love crates because they have so many great uses around the house. Do you have any crates in your house? How do you use them?

Monday, September 8, 2014

Wynn has recently begun to color several times a day. This activity involves markers, crayons, colored pencils and anything else that you can make a mark with nowadays. She loves to sit in her chair from Elizabeth & Co at the living room coffee table. Unfortunately the plastic container I had previously given her was hard to sift through, and it was overflowing which means the lid could not be put on.

I purchased this wooden box at Home Goods last year for $8 on clearance.

I filled it up with six large mason jars. Then I got to organizing the markers and other goodies. I have to admit that Wynn has kept it very well organized for the past few weeks. She must take after her mother. :) It is perfect because now we do not have random supplies rolling off the table and everywhere around the room.

Hooray for organization! The best part is that this box can be used for anything. Maybe in the spring I can use it for flowers on the kitchen counter.

Friday, September 5, 2014

I was given the following product to review, and all of opinions regarding the canvas are my own. I was recently contacted by Easy Canvas Prints to see if I would be interested in creating a canvas. I thought it would be great considering I had the perfect image for a canvas project. I went on their site and got started right away. You can do a single canvas or a grouping of smaller canvases for a wall gallery. I chose to create one large canvas for my project.

You can create a canvas as small as 8 inches by 8 inches or even go as large as 30 inches by 40 inches. They even give you an opportunity to create your own custom sized canvas. It is very easy to upload your image from your computer to their design program. I think from start to finish it took me under 10 minutes to complete and order.

It was delivered very quickly, and came packaged extremely well. I ordered the 24 inch by 36 inch wrapped canvas. I am extremely happy with the quality of the image and the canvas itself. Easy Canvas Prints has won me over as a customer, and I plan on making orders for Christmas gifts for the grandparents this year. I found the perfect spot in the house for the canvas for the fall. I simply just rested it on my mantel. Thanks to Michelle from Michelle Albright Photography for taking the beautiful image of my boys that I was able to use on the canvas.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Here I go again recycling baby food container related items. This time I am using the baby puff containers. We certainly have quite the collection of these as the boys love them now.

We first took some craft paint and foam brush to cover the puffs container without the wrapper.

Then I helped her cut a slit into the tops of the containers. We painted the tops with green paint. We also painted some tongue depressers with the same green paint to make stems. After they dried we put the tops on and slipped the stems through the holes we made in the tops.

The last step was to write on faces with a marker once the orange paint dried. Wynn let me do the honors of creating the mouth. She helped make the eyes and noses. Clearly we are certainly an artisitic family. ;)

I was thinking we could fill them up with candy and use them as teacher gifts when Halloween gets closer. I think Wynn would love to do that. This was certainly an easy craft to do with her at four years old. I bet you could make all different Halloween related ideas with these. I cannot wait to make snowmen in the winter time.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Feeding a toddler is sometimes a tough job. We are in a regular rotation of mac n' cheese, yogurt, bagels, cereal and sometimes chicken nuggets. All of these are easy and require little effort on my part. In my Amazon browsing I found a great book on bento boxes for kids. I figured it looked fun and so I purchased a box on Amazon along with the book. I decided that since Wynn is obsessed with the movie Frozen that I would create a Frozen theme bento box. I started with some noddles with butter aka Elsa's curls. We also have the Olaf mix which is snow balls and stick arms aka yogurt covered raisins and slivered almonds. Then we have of course Frozen blueberries.

Then we have the frozen water, which is yogurt colored with a little blue raspberry Jello powder. Then a frozen frosted oatmeal cookie for dessert.

Wynn enjoyed her Frozen dinner. She even wore her Frozen necklace made by Natalie at Northshore Days. Bento boxes look like they take a lot of effort and time, but it was easy to do. Wynn was so happy to have a theme meal. She takes after her mom when it comes to themes I think.